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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 9118134" data-attributes="member: 177">Of course, this is discussing "bad players" as if that is a well-known thing.  When the exact behaviors that are "bad" will vary from tale to table, and game to game.What you are missing is context.You seem to have removed (and simplified) a segment of play from its context in play, resulting in a thing that doesn't represent what happens in play.  In the version above the one I quote, you say the player asks for something "at random" - and it isn't at random at all.In games that allow this sort of player input, there is a specific method for it.  There's a time, place, or occasion for it, and the rules give you the scope of what the request can be.  It is worked in as a specific part of gameplay, such that the GM and player have both already signed off on the idea the player can make these requests before play begins.None of which means you have to like this mode of play - but if you mischaracterize it, and then argue against it,  you are arguing against a strawman of your own creation, not against the reality of play.Edit to add:There is also an issue that might be creeping in here, which is that frequently we are looking at a difference between (tactical) task resolution in something like D&D, and conflict resolution in a more narrative game.If you are running a game based on tactical task resolution, a player asking for arbitrary things at arbitrary times doesn't work - the player cannot ask for arbitrary resources to meet a current tactical need.If you are running a game based in conflict resolution, the player asking for things is not generally asking for tactical material benefit to help resolve matters.  The player is often asking for narrative details which do not impact the actual conflict resolution die roll success or failure.  Indeed, in such games, we are often not nearly so fixated on "success" in the conflict - succeed or fail, the narrative will go on.</blockquote>

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